Research teams have revealed new insights into how genes and proteins affect lifespan.
One study examined a group of genes involved in making proteins within cells. They affect RNA polymerase enzymes which transcribe RNA – beneficial in early life but less helpful later in life.
Dr Nazif Alic of University College London, UK, explained that the genes appear to be an example of ‘antagonistic pleiotropy’, they may shorten lifespan but are selected for in evolution if they offer protection in early life and through child-bearing years.
Details were published yesterday in *Genome Research*.
Dr Alic commented: “We have already seen from extensive previous research that inhibiting certain genes involved in making proteins in our cells, can extend lifespan in model organisms such as yeast, worms and flies.
“Here, we have found that inhibiting these genes may also increase longevity in people, perhaps because they are most useful early in life before causing problems in late life.”
The second study is published by Dr Paul Timmers and colleagues at the University of Edinburgh, UK. Their analysis of six European genome-wide association studies of human ageing highlighted the blood proteins apolipoprotein A and vascular cell adhesion molecule 1.
It "demonstrates that combining multiple ageing traits using genetic principal components enhances the power to detect biological targets for human ageing", they report.
Dr Timmers said: “The identification of these two key proteins could help extend the healthy years of life. Drugs that lower these protein levels in our blood could allow the average person to live as healthy and as long as individuals who have won the genetic lottery and are born with genetically low levels.”
Javidnia, S. et al. Mendelian randomization analyses implicate biogenesis of translation machinery in human aging. *Genome Research* 25 January 2022 doi: 10.1101/gr.275636.121
Timmers, P. R. H. J. et al. Mendelian randomization of genetically independent aging phenotypes identifies LPA and VCAM1 as biological targets for human aging. *Nature Aging* 20 January 2022; doi: 10.1038/s43587-021-00159-8
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